Four tourists drown as boat capsizes in Alappuzha

Alappuzha (Kerala) : Four tourists from Tamil Nadu, including two women and two children, drowned in the Vembanad lake here Saturday after a boat capsized due to overloading.

“A group of about 60 tourists from Tamil Nadu were boarding a big houseboat by walking through a smaller boat which overturned,” said Tomy Pulikattil, who owns a dozen houseboats here.

Kunjumon, a worker attached to the houseboat, told reporters that the women and children had been told not to overcrowd the smaller boat.

“Due to the language barrier, they did not understand what we were trying to say. Most of them were standing in a particular area of the boat.

“Although we rescued those who fell into the lake, we were told later that four people had gone missing. By that time it was too late to rescue them,” Kunjumon added.

Houseboats are a major tourism attraction in Alappuzha.